Do Facial Lotions Fight Aging?

As you get older, wrinkles is an inevitability you have to face sooner or later—but not “never” (if you survive long enough into a ripe old age). It’s a sign that you’ve grown old and even people who’ve staved off wrinkles as long as possible (like Morgan Fairchild) with surgery and vanity can’t really stop its development. It’s as unavoidable as mortality and in many ways it’s a manifestation of our mortality as well.

With that said, do facial lotions fight aging or help at all when it comes to reversing the signs of aging? Yes and no. Lotions with lots of moisturizers can temporarily moisturize aging skin but it can’t reverse its mileage. The years on your face are things you can delay but not remove. Regardless, there are a number of anti-aging (or regular) moisturizers on the market that can help you reduce or prevent wrinkle formation.

Realities of Aging

Skin gradually loses its elasticity as it ages. It also becomes dryer and thinner, resulting in fine lines (at first) that deepen into outright wrinkles the older you get. You should also take note of certain lifestyle and environmental factors that could induce photoaging or premature aging according to Medical News Today. Wrinkling can happen not only because skin gets older, less elastic, and more worn down.

It can also occur because of pollution, smoking, heavy drinking, lack of beauty sleep (leading to the development of eye bags), sun damage due to excessive naked UV exposure, and lack of a skincare regimen. Dry skin should be moisturized regularly, the face should be washed to avoid bacterial accumulation trapped in facial oil and zits, and you should apply agents like tea tree oil to allow for regular skin regeneration every time.

Why Should You Care About Anti-Aging Moisturizers?

The 21st Century World is a world full of chemicals. Climate change because of our carbon footprint aside, we are overexposed with environmental pollutants, ultraviolet radiation (since the Ozone Layer’s hole has just recently been fixed, so people in certain areas are bombarded with UV rays without any filters), and poor diet choices from food filled with chemical agents. Wrinkles are inevitable in old age, but you still don’t want to look 80 or 90 years old when you’re just 40 or 50 years old instead!

Your skin elasticity degrades not only because of age but because of outside factors aside from age, leading to accelerated aging or photoaging. There are methods available that don’t necessarily reverse the effects of time in your face and the rest of your body, but instead it preserves you better and helps you combat the inundation of chemicals in our present world, leading to vampire-like youthfulness that will follow you through middle age. Like using lotions and moisturizers.

Lotions and Wrinkle Prevention

Here’s the lowdown on the studies and stances of different organizations regarding moisturizing lotions and wrinkle prevention.

Mayo Clinic: The Mayo Clinic also dismisses the value of lotions when it comes to making any noticeable or lasting difference with wrinkles. These are not tested or regulated products, just like in the case of vitamin or dietary supplements.

FDA: According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), there are no over-the-counter (OTC) lotions and anti-wrinkle moisturizers that have medical value. None of them claim to have therapeutic capabilities and the FDA calls out any misleading advertising from the manufacturers of these lotions and facial creams.

UMMC: The University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) can vouch for the effectiveness of cosmetic moisturizers in regards to lotions remaining a staple in many a skincare regimen because skin is always in need of moisturizing and hydration to prevent tearing or bruising.

Estrogen-laced moisturizing cream does appear to smoothen out wrinkles through stimulating the production of collagen and skin repair. Nonetheless, these are wrinkles found in areas not exposed to the sun, according to the UMMC. It’s a redundant facial moisturizer regardless.

Topical Retinoids

For your information, retinoids are known to reduce fine lines and pore inflammation. They can be availed of topically through various anti-aging cream and moisturizing lotion formulas. They also cover removal and reduction of liver spots or brown discoloration of the skin for good measure.

According to the Mayo Clinic, these special lotions and creams are derived from Vitamin A. They’re also available mostly as prescription products that require dermatologist approval. Commercially, you can avail of them as ReTrieve, Retinova, and Retin-A.

According to DermNetNZ, these retinoid creams should be applied to the skin once every day until it acclimates to the agents. Before acclimatization occurs, expect side effects like increased photo sensitivity (stay out of the sun for a little while), itching, and redness.

Antioxidant Creams

Meanwhile, the UMMC also takes note that because antioxidants are depleted due to excessive sunlight exposure that causes wrinkles, one way to battle or prevent wrinkle formation is getting a fresh supply of antioxidants in your system topically or through what you eat. You need antioxidants because free radical oxidation can lead to you looking older than you really are.

Without antioxidants, there’s no stopping the free radicals from damaging skin cells and making them more prone to wrinkling and sun damage. Putting on antioxidant creams with alpha-lipoic acids or Coenzyme Q10 as well as having a pro-antioxidant diet consisting of prunes, raisins, blueberries, blackberries strawberries raspberries, plums, and oranges can assist in keeping your skin safe from free radicals and oxidation.

Lotions and Vitamin C

Speaking of antioxidants and oxidation, you also need a good dose of Vitamin C through eating the right citrus fruits or even by simple supplementation. The oxidation process releases stress unto your skin in the form of free radicals, making it more prone to aging and damage like a frayed t-shirt that’s been used quite a couple of times. What does Vitamin C have to do with skincare and lotions? A lot, actually.

Vitamin C is also required fro collagen production, which increases the elasticity of the skin in order to make it suppler. Vitamin C also declines as you grow older, such that citrus fruits and tablets might not be enough to get Vitamin C to reach your skin and increase its collagen output. To replenish your Vitamin C stock, you can also apply it topically through Vitamin-C-enriched lotions and moisturizers that promote the formation of collagen and reduce free radical effects. This leads to more youthful and firmer skin.

Conclusion

Although you can’t reverse skin aging you can make it go faster. To reiterate, you can’t undo the mileage on your skin the same way you can’t undo the mileage of your car. Long story short, these lotions have no effect on preventing the onset of the wrinkles themselves when they’re already forming but they can reduce the drying of skin from youth to old age. The drier the skin the likelier it is to wrinkle up or lost its suppleness.

They can specifically moisturize dry skin and when used since your youth, they can keep skin young enough so that it’d have mileage to spare when you’re older. Since they have no effect against sun damage, your best bet against UV rays remain sunscreen cream with a high SPF rating and UV-proof sunglasses. In other words, use sun block and moisturize regularly in your youth so that you won’t have to double your moisturizer dosage in old age, when it’s already too late.